June 22, 2009

What a Difference Obama vs.Netanyahu and President Bush

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu came out in favor of the student demonstrators in Iran. Netanyahu says he doesn't know what the outcome of the protests in Iran will be.

Regarding the protests

MR. GREGORY: This is an unfolding story that we’ve been seeing all week long. The images from the streets are disturbing, you have a violent crackdown under way in Iran. What does your intelligence in Israel tell you about the weakness, the nature of the Iranian regime today?

MR. NETANYAHU: Well, it’s not my intelligence, but my common sense and the traditional sense. Obviously, you see a regime that represses its own people and spreads terror far and wide. It is a, a regime whose real nature has been unmasked, and it’s been unmasked by incredible acts of courage by Iran’s citizens. They, they go into the streets, they face bullets. And I tell you, as somebody who believes deeply in democracy, that you see the Iranian lack of democracy at work. And I think this better explains and best explains to the entire world what this regime is truly about.

MR. GREGORY: I ask about your intelligence services as well in terms of what hard information you have about what’s going on inside the regime.

MR. NETANYAHU: I don’t know if anyone really knows, and I cannot tell you how this thing will end up. I think something very deep, very fundamental is going on, and there’s an expression of a deep desire amid the people of Iran for freedom, certainly for greater freedom. But perhaps the word is a simple one, freedom. This is what is going on. You don’t need all the intelligence apparatus that modern states have to see something when it faces you right away. It, it’s facing you in–it’s staring us in the face, there’s no question about that.

MR. GREGORY: You know there’s been quite a debate here in the United States and really around the world about what President Obama should do and should say at a moment like this. He has said over the weekend that these are unjust actions, that the whole world is watching, that Iran should not violently crack down on its people. Has he said and done enough, do you think?

MR. NETANYAHU: I’m not going to second-guess the president of the United States. I know President Obama wants the people of Iran to be free. He said as much in his seminal speech in Cairo before the Muslim world. I’ve spoken to him a number of times on this subject, there’s no question we’d all like to see a different, a different Iran with different policies. Remember, this is a regime that not only represses its own people–Sakharov said, Andrei Sakharov, the great Russian scientist and humanist, said that a regime that oppresses its own people sooner or later will oppress its neighbors. And certainly Iran has been doing that. It’s been calling for the, the denial of the Holocaust. It’s threatening to wipe Israel off the map. It’s pursuing nuclear weapons. To that effect it’s sponsoring terror against us, but throughout the world. So I think what everybody would like to see is a change in policy, and the change of policy is both outside and inside.

Presidents dealing with foreign uprisings are haunted by two historical precedents. The first is Hungary in 1956, in which Radio Free Europe encouraged an armed revolt against Soviet occupation -- a revolt that America had no capability or intention of materially supporting. In the contest of Molotov cocktails vs. tanks, about 2,500 revolutionaries died; 1,200 were later executed.

The second precedent is Ukraine in 1991, where the forces that eventually destroyed the Soviet Union were collecting. President George H.W. Bush visited that Soviet republic a month before its scheduled vote on independence. Instead of siding with Ukrainian aspirations, he gave a speech that warned against "suicidal nationalism" and a "hopeless course of isolation." William Safire dubbed it the "chicken Kiev" speech, which fit and stuck. The first Bush administration was so frightened of geopolitical instability that it managed to play down American ideals while missing a strategic opportunity.

In President Obama's snail-mail response to Iran's Twitter revolution, he has tended toward the chicken Kiev model. Which should not be surprising. During the presidential campaign, Obama summarized his approach to foreign affairs: "It's an argument between ideology and foreign-policy realism. I have enormous sympathy for the foreign policy of George H.W. Bush." Such "realism" has translated into criticism of the Iranian regime that began as pathetic and progressed to mild. The intention seems obvious -- to criticize just enough to avoid appearing cynical, but not so much as to undermine the possibility of engagement with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs.

~snipet~

Obama could, instead, have harshly criticized the regime thugs on motorbikes for breaking the heads of women and youth during protests, and he could have led the world in condemning Internet censorship and the arrest of dissidents. Instead of critiquing Iran's political processes, he could have spoken for human rights with firmness and clarity.

Once again, those who sneer that elections in the broader Middle East are unimportant -- because democracy is more than elections -- have gotten it wrong. An election, as in Iran, can be more than a poll; it can be a fuse. These elections not only summarized Iranian discontent but galvanized it. The resentments of women treated by clerics as children, of a middle class struggling in a failing economy and of sophisticated citizens ruled by a president both dangerous and clownish don't seem likely to fade on their own. These reformers will do lethal damage to the regime -- or they will be violently repressed by the regime, which has cut the Internet and banned the news media, the ritual preparations for a bloodbath.

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President George W. Bush gestures the "hook'em horns" sign of the University of Texas to U.S. military personnel in the balcony, as he meets with U.S. military and diplomatic personnel Sunday, Dec, 14, 2008, at the Al Faw Palace-Camp Victory in Baghdad. White House photo by Eric Draper

Some of the violence you see in Iraq is being carried out by ruthless killers who are converging on Iraq to fight the advance of peace and freedom.

Our military reports that we have killed or captured hundreds of foreign fighters in Iraq who have come from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and other nations.

They are making common cause with criminal elements, Iraqi insurgents, and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime who want to restore the old order.

They fight because they know that the survival of their hateful ideology is at stake.

They know that as freedom takes root in Iraq, it will inspire millions across the Middle East to claim their liberty as well.

And when the Middle East grows in democracy, prosperity, and hope, the terrorists will lose their sponsors, lose their recruits, and lose their hopes for turning that region into a base for attacks on America and our allies around the world.

Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the "natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate." What followed was more than the establishment of a new country. It was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham, Moses, and David – a homeland for the chosen people in Eretz Yisrael.

Eleven minutes later, on the orders of President Harry Truman, the United States was proud to be the first nation to recognize Israel's independence. And on this landmark anniversary, America is proud to be Israel's closest ally and best friend in the world.

The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty. It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul. When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of Jeremiah: "Come let us declare in Zion the word of God." The founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state.

~snipet~

Some people suggest that if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away.

This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of our enemies, and America rejects it utterly.

Israel's population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because America stands with you.

America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary.

And America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Ultimately, to prevail in this struggle, we must offer an alternative to the ideology of the extremists by extending our vision of justice and tolerance, freedom and hope.

These values are the self-evident right of all people, of all religions, in all of the world because they are a gift from Almighty God.

Securing these rights is also the surest way to secure peace.

Leaders who are accountable to their people will not pursue endless confrontation and bloodshed.

Young people with a place in their society and a voice in their future are less likely to search for meaning in radicalism. And societies where citizens can express their conscience and worship their God will not export violence, they will be partners for peace.

This fundamental insight, that freedom yields peace, is the great lesson of the 20th century.

Now our task is to apply it in the 21st.

Nowhere is this work more urgent than here in the Middle East.

We must stand with the reformers working to break the old patterns of tyranny and despair.

We must give voice to the millions of ordinary people who dream of a better life in freedom.

We must confront the moral relativism that views all forms of government as equally acceptable and thereby consigns whole societies to slavery.

Above all, we must have faith in our values and ourselves and confidently pursue the expansion of liberty as the path to a peaceful future.

That future will be a dramatic departure from the Middle East of today.

"To the people of Iran: You are rich in culture and talent. You have a right to live under a government that listens to your wishes, respects your talents, and allows you to build better lives for your families. Unfortunately, your government denies you these opportunities, and threatens the peace and stability of your neighbors. So we call on the regime in Tehran to heed your will, and to make itself accountable to you. The day will come when the people of Iran have a government that embraces liberty and justice, and Iran joins the community of free nations. And when that good day comes, you will have no better friend than the United States of America." - President George W. Bush, January 13, 2008.

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Wild Thing's comment........

Netanyahu is masterful - he's everything the bumbling Obama is not (and note how he gracefully refuses to second guess the President of the United States).

Bush was right in the things he said too.

There is such a tremendous difference between Obama and these two REAL MEN. Leaders both , Bush and Netanyahu compared to the likes of Obama that can't form a complete thought without his teleprompter and hates the very country he is the leader of as he goes about his agenda to destroy it.

Netanyahu and Bush lift their countries up with respect and love and want it to be the best as well as it's citizens. Obama travels around the world and apologizes for America and compalins about America on foreign soil. Obama must cringe to see people willing to protest for freedom at risk of their lives as we see in Iran. Just as he cannot understand the heart and soul of our Veterans and our military the whole freedom thing are just words to him to use in a speech.

Here is a quote below that says it better then I could. We will NEVER forget!

"We make a few simple points about the events transpiring over the past week in Iran. The Iranian regime is an evil tyranny. It supports terrorists and terrorism. The United States has a debt of honor to settle with it for the kidnapping and mistreatment of American hostages thirty years ago. That disgrace is not simply a matter of history. It is a disgrace in which Iran's execrable president personally participated. We remember.

The Iranian regime is responsible for the maiming and murder of many Americans and others who have been made its victims. The overthrow of the regime would be well deserved. We support the brave protesters who have taken to the streets of Iran to express their opposition to the regime and we wish them success in their endeavors."

Posted by Wild Thing at June 22, 2009 05:50 AM

Comments

This punk Journalist, trys to trip up BiBi, Bibi must've pissed him off with his answers.

Second rate Journalist/Reporter, Then to ask the Prime Minsiter of Israel, about his security, talk about arrogant. But Bibi handled it well.

Netanyahu a true Statesman.

Posted by: Mark at June 22, 2009 10:15 AM

Gerald Warner had it right in his latest President Pantywaist article. He is a flake who doesn't have a clue what to do.

Capitol Hill, they are witnesses to a hostage taking by a serial killer where the hostage is holding out a pleading sign saying "help me, I'm about to be killed". Once seen they all turn their backs and ignore it. Only Bibi is left to stand up to them. We've devolved into some Somali shithole instead of a world leader, all since January 20, 2009.
This is such an opportunity to show support, even for a flawed alternative to that the nut Ahmajinidad, but also for an even greater outcome of revolution, the potential installation of reason and moderation by throwing out the Ayatolla and his kind.
Instead we continue to ignore Iran, we ignore Iraq and Al Sadr who is an Iranian puppet amidst ominous reports and total apathy. All the while Putin and Kim Jong Il pour in the nuke stockiles and their delivery systems. I can only relate from personal experiences and observations.
Once just outside Tam Ky we were staged to run West on QL 616, during that respite there was a 'package' found wedged beneath the 5th wheel of a 5 ton tractor, EOD wasn't there, a butter bar decided to remove the device, he did and he paid the price.
Sometimes you have to do things that go totally against the grain to survive, I used to pick out the biggest brashest thugs on the road to cover my six at road halts,like the ones at Tam Ky, against the omnipresent swarm of 'kids', it saved my ass several times for the cost of a few piasters or a nasty tropical Hershey bar. Lessons learned the hard way after fishing out grenades from my truck's fuel tank fill strainers, their pins pulled and their spoons taped down with electrical tape that dissolves in fuel and having one expertly placed in it's opened container in the 'glove box' with it's pin pulled waiting for the road vibration to take out the driver somewhere down the road. My grenades? Dunno, I always carried two on my flak vest, accounted for. Trust the enemy? No, but you have to sometimes let them do their thing to protect you, a 5 piaster note or a nasty tropical Hershey bar is a small price to pay to come home whole. They all have the same traits, bullies, greed, corruption and no scruples, put it to your advantage. All Obama has to do is acknowledge their effort in Iran to break out, approval is one hell of a motivator and they are asking for approval, instead he's hiding under his muzzy prayer rug like a child in the dark hoping the boogie man will go away.